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The Conservation Status of Temperate Grasslands in Southern Africa

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The Conservation Status of Temperate Grasslands in Southern Africa Feature The conservation status of temperate grasslands in southern Africa C CARBUTT 1, M TAU 2, A STEPHENS 2 AND B ESCOTT 1 1 Scientific Services, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Cascades 2 National Grassland Biodiversity Programme, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria E mail: [email protected] Introduction The effect of this gradient, enhanced by the east- he Grassland Biome (25° S - 33° S; 24° E - 31° west moisture gradient across the subcontinent, is TE) of southern Africa (here defined in the narrow- believed to have determined the limits of grassland est sense as South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland) on our subcontinent (Mucina and Rutherford 2006). covers an area of c. 360,589 km2, straddling the high central plateau of South Africa (‘highveld’), the moun- The Grassland Biome is represented by four biore- tainous areas of Lesotho, and the high-lying ground gions (Drakensberg Grassland; Sub-escarpment of the eastern seaboard (uplands or sub-escarpment Grassland; Dry Highveld Grassland; Mesic Highveld of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, and Mpumalanga). Grassland; Figure 2) and 72 vegetation types (units), The Grassland Biome (Figure 1), one of nine biomes the latter defined by Mucina and Rutherford (2006) in southern Africa, accounts for c. 28% of the terres- according to similar vegetation structure, macro-cli- trial surface area of southern Africa, and is therefore mate (mainly the amount of summer rainfall, minimum the second largest biome after the Savanna Biome winter temperatures and frost), and a similar dis- (Mucina and Rutherford 2006). Topographically, the turbance regime (frequent fire and grazing). The landscape of the Grassland Biome ranges from flat or Grassland Biome accounts for three centres of plant undulating with hills and valleys, to rugged mountain endemism (Drakensberg Alpine Centre; Wolkberg escarpment. Elevation ranges from 300 m to 3482 Centre; Midlands Putative Centre) whilst a further m a.s.l. (Thabana Ntlenyana - the highest mountain three centres of plant endemism are shared with the in southern Africa). Winters are generally cold and Savanna Biome (Barberton, Sekhukhune and Sout- dry, with frequent frosts and snow falls in the higher pansberg Centres; Mucina and Rutherford 2006). reaches. Rainfall varies spatially from 400 mm to The Grassland Biome also accounts for three World 2,500 mm per annum, corresponding to the MAR in Heritage Sites (uKhahlamba Drakensberg; Cradle of other parts of the world where similar vegetation is Humankind and Vredefort Dome). found (O’Connor and Bredenkamp 1997). Rainfall is strongly seasonal (summer) and the growing season The latest delineation of the Grassland Biome lasts approximately half the year (Mucina and Ru- (Mucina and Rutherford 2006) resulted in the rec- therford 2006). The development of the Grassland ognition of a new biome on the eastern seaboard, Biome is thought to be linked to global cooling namely the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt Biome, which during the late tertiary, accompanied by continental now includes the humid sub-tropical grasslands and uplift that began in the Early Miocene and culminat- the edaphic grasslands of Maputland and Pondland ed in significant uplift of up to 900 m in some parts previously housed in the former Grassland Biome of the subcontinent during the Pliocene. This uplift (see Rutherford and Westfall 1986, Low and Rebelo moved a core area of the subcontinent into a cool, 1996). Furthermore, the Ngongoni grasslands are high-altitude climate, more suitable for grasslands now part of the Savanna Biome, the thinking being than savannas. Uplift towards the west was less pro- that a subtropical vegetation type is best contained nounced, resulting in the sloping east-west gradient. within a subtropical biome. The result therefore is February 2011 | Vol 11 No.1 www.grassland.org.za | The GRASSLAND SOCIETY of SOUTHERN AFRICA | GRASSROOTS 17 Feature conservation status of temperate grasslands that the grasslands of the currently defined Grass- Methods land Biome are all strictly temperate; the Grassland The conservation assessment of temperate grass- Biome and the temperate grasslands of southern lands in southern Africa was based on a GIS-analysis Africa are synonymous and may therefore be referred using ArcView GIS 3.2. Areas were calculated using to interchangeably. data in the WGS84 datum Lo29 projection. Levels of transformation were based on the National Land The temperate grasslands of southern Africa Cover (NLC) 2000 coverage (satellite imagery). The are structurally fairly conservative and uniform transformed areas do not necessarily lie exclusively (O’Connor and Bredenkamp 1997); they comprise outside of protected areas (PAs). Protection levels single-layered herbaceous communities of tufted were derived from the formal PA system (i.e. all leg- graminoids (predominantly perennial grasses of the islated, formal state and statutory PAs), according to Family Poaceae), as well as a forb component of the National Environmental Management: Protected mostly long-lived perennials that re-appear on an Areas Act 57 of 2003. annual basis from significant below-ground biomass (corms, rhizomes, tubers or bulbs) until the end of Results their life-span but are heavily reliant on the produc- A meager 2.04% of the region’s temperate grasslands tion and establishment of viable seed for recruitment. are conserved within PAs (Table 1). This level of pro- Biomass is mostly attributed to the grass component tection is less than half of the global total (estimated (Family Poaceae), whilst species richness is attribut- between c. 4.6% and 5.5%) for the World Temperate ed mostly to the forb component. Woody plants are Grassland Biome (see Chape et al. 2003, Peart 2008). rare (usually low to medium-sized shrubs) or absent This also falls short of the IUCN target of 10% formal (O’Connor and Bredenkamp 1997), and are confined protection by 2014, and at a local (national) scale, to specific habitats serving as fire refugia (rocky hill- far short of the 12% target (or an additional ± 42,500 tops, drainage lines etc.). Grassy or Afromontane km 2) by 2028 set as part of South Africa’s National ‘fynbos’ (heathland-like vegetation) occurs at the Protected Area Expansion Strategy (NPAES) (SANBI higher elevations and in higher rainfall areas, often and DEAT 2008). The poor levels of protection often on steep, highly leached slopes protected from fire mean that temperate grasslands account for most (Mucina and Rutherford 2006). C 4 grasses dominate of the high priority biodiversity areas for PA expan- most of the Biome, except at the higher elevations sion, which in KwaZulu-Natal is estimated to be c. of the Drakensberg Alpine Centre (i.e. the Maloti- 46% (Carbutt and Escott 2010). An assessment of Drakensberg Mtns), where C3 grasses predominate conservation priorities in the Grassland Biome iden- (Low and Rebelo 1996). Canopy cover of the grass- tified some 36.7% of the biome being important for lands is moisture-dependent and decreases with biodiversity conservation (Reyers et al. 2005). Some low MAR. Cover is also influenced by intensity and 33% of southern Africa’s temperate grasslands are type of grazing, as well as by fire (seasonality, in- already irreversibly transformed (Table 1). tensity) and by minimum temperature (implications for frosts). The temperate grasslands of southern All broad temperate grassland units (bioregions) Africa are subdivided into moist (dependent on fire are below target, although the Drakensberg Grass- for maintaining structure) and dry types (not depen- land Bioregion is the most protected (Table 2) princi- dent on fire for maintaining structure) (Mucina and pally as a result of the Maloti Drakensberg Transfron- Rutherford 2006). tier Conservation Area (comprising the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site in South Africa The aim of this study was to assess the conser- and Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho). Priority vation status of temperate grasslands in southern should be given to the sub-escarpment grasslands, Africa, discuss possible reasons for the poor level listed in the NPAES as being the only bioregion of of protection and high degree of transformation, and the Grassland Biome requiring ‘critically urgent’ at- mention the major current interventions aimed at im- tention (SANBI and DEAT 2008), followed by the Dry- proving levels of protection. and Mesic Highveld Grassland Bioregions (requiring 18 GRASSROOTS | The GRASSLAND SOCIETY of SOUTHERN AFRICA | www.grassland.org.za February 2011 | Vol 11 No.1 conservation status of temperate grasslands Feature Table 1. The conservation status of temperate grasslands in southern Africa. ‘very urgent’ attention). Ironically, the bioregions of its high priority biodiversity located within produc- with the most PAs (e.g. Mesic Highveld Grasslands; tion (‘working’) landscapes. This is a worldwide trend Sub-escarpment Grasslands) conserve some of the because grasslands are highly amenable for settle- smallest areas per bioregion, highlighting the futility ment and use, having provided for man’s needs for of small reserves in fulfilling PA targets (although are centuries. As a result, temperate grasslands are now often essential in fulfilling biodiversity targets). considered the most altered terrestrial biome on the planet (Henwood 2006). The low level of protection (c. 2%) is also slight- ly overestimated due to the prevalence of forest The primary drivers of transformation by agri- patches within these grassland areas, reducing the culture in the Grassland Biome
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